Article

Wozniacki cruises through Qatar Open second round

14 February 2018 17:42

World number one Caroline Wozniacki cruised through to the third round of the Qatar Open with a commanding straight-sets defeat of Carina Witthoeft.

A surprise quarter-final loss in the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy followed the first grand slam victory of Wozniacki's career at January's Australian Open, but the 27-year-old was in fine fettle once more in Doha as she dispatched of her 52nd-ranked opponent 6-2 6-0.

Although the Dane spoke ahead of this match of how she already considered 2018 to be "a very successful season" given her triumph in Melbourne, she gave Witthoeft no opportunity to take a scalp.

The match was over within an hour, but the German at least offered some resistance in the opening set, pegging the score back to 2-1 with a break of her own after Wozniacki had charged into the lead.

That did not last long and Wozniacki - a finalist here last year - dropped just one more game en route to quickly securing an insurmountable advantage.

She was more dominant still in the second set and Witthoeft was largely helpless, saving a break point when trailing 5-0 before Wozniacki swiftly sealed victory.

"I've had some of my craziest matches here," Wozniacki reflected afterwards. This was not one of them and she can expect tougher tests later in the tournament.